STRONG BAD: Checkin' email, now take it to the flip side! {repeats the previous sentence backwards}

subject: rock opera

Strong Bad,
I think it's high time you composed a rock opera. You
simply owe it to society. What should it be about?
That's up to you.
Best Wishes,
Anonymous Contributor

Gambier, OH

{Strong Bad pronounces the last two lines as "Anonymous Contrib-u-tore, Gombyay... hhhough"}

STRONG BAD: Ugh, poor guy. {typing} HEY! Mr. and Mrs. Contributor, way to name your kid! I can only imagine the taunts and jabs the kids on the playground musta come up with.

{A piece of notebook paper appears onscreen with Teen Girl Squad-esque drawings on it. On it are drawings of a swingset, Little Strong Bad, and Anonymous, who looks suspiciously like Strong Sad with a question mark for a face. Anonymous is kicking a soccer ball, and faint playground chatter is present in background}

NOTEBOOK STRONG BAD: Hey, Anonymous! Why don't ya, um, write a poem or something and not attribute it to yourself!

STRONG BAD: Or, like...

{The paper switches out. This one features Anonymous with his hands glued to his butt, Strong Bad, and Tompkins, again with faint playground chatter.}

NOTEBOOK STRONG BAD: Yo, Anonny! Maybe try calling the cops and giving them some valuable information to help solve a crime without revealing your own identityiyiyiy!

{The paper disappears offscreen.}

STRONG BAD:{typing} Oh. Kids can be so cruel. {clears screen, resumes typing} OK, back on task. To tell you the truth, you guys have already heard mosta my rock opera. I've been composing it over the last three and a half years. It's simply titled "SBEMAIL!" {A poster for SBEMAIL! appears onscreen} And the lyrics consist of one word from each of my 125 emails! {The poster disappears} Now, it may not make a whole lotta sense but when have I ever backed down from a bad idea, right? Now let's get this train wreck a-rollin'!

{The screen fades to black and the SBEMAIL! poster slides down from the top of the screen. Cut to the Lappy. Strong Bad is clapping and making crowd noises with his mouth while roses are being thrown on him from off camera}

STRONG BAD: Bravo! Encore! Encore! ¡Ándale! ¡Ándale! ¡Arriba! ¡Arriba! {typing} Thank you! Thank you! Yes, the rave reviews are already pouring in. It's only a matter of time before the chicks {due to the keyboard getting covered in roses, this is typed as "It's only a msyyer pd tun/ blegfr teh chekts"} -uh.

{The camera pulls out, and we see The Cheat on the computer desk holding a rose.}

STRONG BAD: The Cheat... ixnay on the cut-it-out-throwing-roses-at-me! ...may.

{The Cheat utters a short Cheat noise and throws a rose at Strong Bad, causing it to stick to his face.}

A rock opera is, as the name implies, a sung dramatic work in a rock, instead of classical, musical style. The term originated with the programmatic works of The Who, in particular their rock opera Tommy.

off13 Broadway refers to Off-Broadway and Off-Off-Broadway, classifications of theatre size in New York theatre venues. Off-Broadway refers to theatres with audience sizes between 100 and 499, and Off-Off-Broadway refers to theatres with 100 seats or less. The concept behind them is that having a very small house allows for productions that are much more experimental and financially risky. However, Strong Bad's "off13" means that his musical is off-off-off-off-off-off-off-off-off-off-off-off-off broadway, or the word 'off' multiplied by itself thirteen times.

The same strobe lights from techno are seen during the "Positate without pizzaz and jam" section of the song. However, both lights in this email are different colors from the lights in techno.

The song that plays during the "Whatever action baby actually went jibblie. Oooh! Oh. Party like completely great, good. Down town ladies get consummate." part is similar to the song "One" from the musical "A Chorus Line".

The email rap and the flipside version are clips of Strong Bad saying the same thing, but they are different versions of it. If you reverse the clip, the most obvious difference is that the flipside version doesn't have a pause after the word "email".

Even though in sb_email 22, Strong Bad types "nevermind", and it is used the same way in this email, "never mind" is actually two words.

The word crackin' isn't actually heard in fingers, and though it likely was recorded, the audio layer is turned down or the narrator is completely overpowering Strong Bad's voice.

The Poopsmith, Bubs, and Pom Pom all remain motionless when the cast yells "SBEMAIL!", though it may be that the Poopsmith is silent on purpose, because of his vow of silence.

Strong Bad did back down from a bad idea in other days, when he decided not to answer the entire email like a robot.

When Dangeresque falls through the ice, the hole is smaller than his head.

You can click the contrast buttons on the Tandy 400 while the opera is playing, although it doesn't actually affect the contrast of the screen.

When roses are being thrown with the Lappy in the background, you can't see the reflection of the roses on the Lappy's screen.

In trevor the vampire, when Strong Bad goes up to the screen and says "Hi, everybody," his eyes were given the newer style. However, in the opera, the same scene was shown, but his eyes were still the old style.

In addition, in several other clips, Strong Bad is animated using the current style of animation, (where Strong Bad's head, rather than his mouth, moves), yet his old eyes are still used.

When the scene from credit card is shown, the "John, and some other people who aren't scam artists" signature is missing, which is notable since "scam" is the word used in the rock opera.

When The Cheat throws a rose in Strong Bad's face, it hits his left eye. However, when Strong Bad starts freaking out about it, the rose is on his right eye.

When the cast yells "SBEMAIL!" Strong Mad's mouth appears on Homsar's torso for a few seconds.

Though not noticeable without zooming in, once everyone has finished yelling "SBEMAIL!", Homsar's lip comes between Homestar's head and shirt; more specifically, in front of the head, and behind the shirt.

In the Dangeresque on ice scene, when Strong Bad falls through the ice, the splash is in front of the ice.

Strong Bad's dance move with Baby Styles is a reference to virus when he compliments Bubs for being a computer genius man.

"Sbemail" is a reference to the filename of almost every Strong Bad Email. Strong Bad also refers to this in unused emails and kids' book. Additionally, this email solidifies the pronounciation of "sbemail" (in the commentary for Making of Email 100, Matt Chapman pronounced it as "s-b-email").

The Easter egg newspaper review from a 7-year-old is from when Puppet Strong Bad appeared on G4's "Attack of the Show!" answering phone calls and asked a caller he was talking to if he was 7 years old, due to the tone and sound of his voice.

The electric guitars in the opera are (or are modeled after) the Gibson V-Factor, more commonly known as "Flying V".

The amps are modeled after Marshall stacks, but instead of "Marshall", the logo reads "An Amp". These were also used in different town and Cool Things, but labeled "Marzipan".

Strong Bad's song at the beginning of the email may be a reference to Missy Elliott's Work It, where she says "I put my thang down, flip it, and reverse it!" which is then played backwards.

Strong Bad walking toward the camera while neon signs fly by is also a commonly used movie cliché when the main-character gets overwhelmed by the nightlife of the city (most famously in the 1945 film The Lost Weekend).